


Worst Case Scenario

by wishiwerebella



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: I'm Sorry, M/M, Stony Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 12:31:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4479341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishiwerebella/pseuds/wishiwerebella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony never expected someone to use Steve to get to him, he'd always envisioned it the other way around. Now the team's worst nightmare was coming true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worst Case Scenario

“Stark, slow down! You’re going to get us all killed,” Clint’s voice was angry over the comm. Tony had no chill since Natasha had called them with the news; Steve had been captured by Hydra.

It was a “routine” mission. Natasha and Steve had been sent in to a Hydra controlled building, it wasn’t even a base, just a single run-down building housing a lab of some sort. They’re mission was to retrieve whatever data Hydra had been collecting and torch the place. Easy peasy. Except it all went horribly wrong.

The lab had been specifically designed with Captain America’s super serum in mind. When the reinforced steel cage dropped down to surround the two of them, Natasha had barely managed to fling herself free from the trap. Cap hasn’t been so lucky. It wasn’t inescapable, but it would take time. The bars of steel had been intricately woven together to make it nearly impossible for Rogers to get more than a finger through the weave to grip the bars and pull them apart. It would take him hours to create a hole big enough to fit through, and in his vulnerable position they would have plenty of time to try to stop him. A massive anvil sat atop the cage, the whole thing having taken a crane and blind luck to set atop the superhuman Captain.

Natasha tried to get to the crane to pull the cage up but they knew exactly how to stop her. “We will kill him now, where he stands, if you don’t surrender yourself, Widow.” The voice boomed from next to the cage, where all could hear Captain America raging at the bars to little effect. “Come down from the crane and we’ll talk. Neither of you are who we are after.”

Black Widow didn’t surrender. But she considered it a tactical strategy to hear when the man had to say before forming her plan to free her teammate.  She climbed down from the crane and stood before the threatening man, surrounded by 50 armed guards all aiming at her. “Who are you after then?” She asked, unflinchingly.

“We want Stark,” the man informed her. The roar of anger from the cage startled even Natasha for the briefest of seconds. “Iron Man shows his face, gives up his suit to us, and Captain America goes free.” Natasha studied the man’s face, his poise, his absolute certainty that she would agree to this exchange.

“You aren’t Hydra, are you?” Natasha asked in revelation. “What is it you really want?”

“We want Iron Man here in one hour, or we start doing unspeakable things to your friend here.” The man’s composure didn’t slip a bit, despite the cursing and threats coming from the captive Captain.

“Widow, don’t you dare! I’m going to split this man’s skull open with my own two hands! Stop!” Steve called after Nat as she backed out of the building, watching the smirking face of their current villain for any clues as to the true purpose of what he was demanding. She wasn’t stupid enough to turn her back on this enemy. She also wasn’t stupid enough to miss an opportunity to buy some time and call in the troops. They had one hour.

“One hour, Barton. That was 45 minutes ago. We don’t have time to slow down. I’m going in,” Iron Man called over the comm, ignoring the please for caution from his teammate and landing on the buildings roof. He easily took out the two guards at the roof access door with his repulsors.

“Tony, we don’t even know if this is going to work. Give Jarvis one minute to finish calibrating and let us get the Quinjet in position for evacuation before you go in there all half-cocked,” Natasha requested, brooking no argument. Tony paused. Clint landed on the roof at the evacuation point two buildings over as quickly as he could.

“Jarvis, are we set?” Tony asked, his irritation at having to wait another minute before rescuing his husband evident.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, sir.” Iron Man went into motion before the entire sentence was out, literally flying down the staircase to the first level of the building, where Natasha informed them Steve was being held. “Approximately 47 guards, armed, in this room. I am detecting an EMP sir. I would advise caution,” Jarvis stated, analyzing the scene. Ten of the men were looking into the cage from various points around it. Each was holding a modified cattle prod in their hands, which was pressed against the cage, electrifying the whole thing.

Iron Man landed a few feet from the cage, his full arsenal ready to deploy. “Let him go.” Tony demanded. The man in charge stepped forward from the cage.

“You’re coming here meets only one of my conditions. Show your face,” the man demanded. Iron Man’s faceplate retracted to show the face of a very pissed off Tony Stark.

“Tony, NO!” Steve screamed from his electrified prison.

 “Now give us the suit,” the man demanded again.

“Over my dead body,” Tony responded, raising his armaments to strike when the EMP went off, bringing the suit to its knees. Guards descended on him, holding his arms as the man stepped up behind him. As soon as the pulse had rendered the cage safe to touch again, Cap began to throw his whole weight into tearing the thing apart, little piece by little piece.

“Captain, stop!” The man yelled, taking Tony’s struggling form in his hands. Tony began to panic. Where was his backup? Had he so seriously mistimed this that he’d blown the whole plan? Steve stilled, absolute terror in his eyes. “There is a pair of adamantium cuffs in there with you. Put them on, please.”

Steve did, trying to maintain eye contact with Tony through the small gaps in the cage as the cold metal encased his wrists. He couldn’t let them hurt the man he loved so much. He knew that Jarvis would only require a few minutes to recover the suit from the EMP and he planned to stall.

The man smiled, “Still… If snapping his neck is what it takes to achieve our goals…” He swiftly grabbed Iron Man’s helmet between his hands and twisted, a sickening pop sounding loudly through the momentarily quiet space. The suit dropped to the ground, a panicked expression still on Tony’s frozen face, deathly still. No one had seen it coming or had time to react.

Steve roared, “NO!! Tony, No!” Tears fell freely as the Captain went to his knees in agony.

“It took mere seconds to bring Captain America to his knees,” the man mocked, earning laughter from his guards. “Move him to the lab for Phase Two,” the man ordered. Steve was nothing but a blabbering lump on the floor, completely consumed by his heartbreak.

Abruptly every window in the place was shattered inward; SHIELD agents poured through the doors and windows shooting at anything that moved. Natasha and Clint lead the charge, taking out more than their fair share of guards in the process. Clint pinned the man in charge to a wall with an arrow through the shoulder and Natasha descended on him immediately, ready to cause this villain the maximum amount of pain for daring to hurt her friends.

“It’s too late,” the man laughed even as he winced in pain from Natasha’s tight hold on him. “Our objective is complete. Tony Stark is dead.” The man spit in Natasha’s face, which was not his brightest move. Widow may have spared him to see SHIELD dole out their own justice but now he stood no chance. Natasha looked to Clint for confirmation of her decision, and at his silent nod from atop the crane, she snapped the man’s neck.

Black Widow turned her back on him, and took out the few remaining guards attempting to stop Clint from freeing Cap quickly. Clint was already seated in the operator chair, adjusting the controls to lift the huge anvil and cage. As soon as the weight was lifted, the cage was thrown aside thanks to Captain America putting all his anger and suffering into freeing himself and getting revenge. Barely recognizable for the look of absolute fury on his face, Steve charged at the man’s body, still pinned to the wall by Hawkeye’s arrow, but he could do little with his hands still trapped behind his back. Natasha stepped up, placing her hand on his shoulder and he slumped to his knees again, an agonizing wail escaping his lips.

Natasha took the key off the man’s belt loop and freed Cap’s wrists. “I took care of it, Cap. We have to go. Clint’s got the suit. Let’s go.” Natasha tried to be comforting while expressing the immediate need to vacate the premises. More than one alarm had been triggered by their arrival. SHIELD agents had already established a perimeter and were maintaining a safe distance from the three Avengers.  Clint hefted the lifeless Iron Man over his shoulder and headed out the side door, keeping an eye out for any remaining assailants. Nat held nearly all of Steve’s body weight against her as she nearly dragged his sobbing form from the building and to the evac site.

As soon as all three were onboard the quinjet, Natasha yelled at Clint to takeoff and removed herself from underneath Steve’s arm. Cap suddenly found himself lying on the floor of the jet, but not from lack of Nat’s support. A small figure had barreled into him as soon as Nat was free. Tony was lying atop Steve’s prone form, crying and kissing every inch of his face he could reach.

“Tony?! Oh my god! How?” Cap’s face lit up in absolute elation, his tears turned from sadness to joy. He pulled Tony in for a forceful, exhilarated kiss.

“Could you two wait until we’re back to the Tower to start humping each other, please? No one wants to see that,” Natasha quipped. Tony and Steve disentangled themselves from each other and stood. They were still holding hands, and neither showed any sign of letting go anytime soon.

“Someone please tell me why you just put me through that?! And how?” Steve tried to sound angry, but he was so happy to have Tony in his arms and alive that he couldn’t muster the ferocity.

“An informant tipped off SHIELD that there is a terror group posing as HYDRA trying to kill Tony. They think that if the Avengers lose their main source of financing, and you lose your husband, it’ll be just enough leverage to break us up for good.” Clint told him. “Coulson thought it best to let them think Stark was dead. Might give us the leverage to weed these guys out so we can focus on the real HYDRA.” Natasha took her seat next to Clint, leaving the two lovebirds alone in the back of the jet.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Steve whispered, unable to find his full voice as he looked into his husband’s bright, sparkling, _alive_ eyes.

“It was a hologram. If I hadn’t been in such a rush to make it work, and be EMP proof and realistic, I would have found a way to tell you. I’m so sorry,” Tony said, brushing the last of the tears from his beloved’s face. “I was so worried about you. I always thought that the bad guys would use me to get to you, I never imagined the scenario the other way around.”

“It was a lucky drop. It won’t happen again, I promise. Especially since I don’t plan to leave your side for quite awhile,” Cap remarked, bending to kiss the billionaire again. 

“Well, I am going to be stuck in the tower with nothing to do for quite a long time to keep up the appearance of being dead. I think you’re the perfect body guard to stay by side all that time,” Tony teased.

“I think we can find something to do with ourselves,” Steve said, pulling Tony into his lap. The two were making out like teenagers.

“Hey, I thought I asked you guys to wait till we were back at the tower?” Natasha chided. “They’re going to be insufferable for at least a month,” she complained to Clint, putting on her headphones, attempting to drown out the sounds of their teammates canoodling.

“ETA, thirty minutes to the Tower,” Clint announced to no one in particular, since no one was listening to him anymore. He tuned out the moans from the back of the jet and focused on the sky, grateful the mission hadn’t been further from home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fill for the (temporary) character death square on my Stony Bingo Card. I've never played fic Bingo before, but I'm having a lot of fun with it! I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
